Four lawyers accused of raping help

Mumbai: Acting on the complaint of a 45-year-old woman, the Kalyan police on Tuesday registered an FIR against four lawyers for allegedly subjecting her to a gang-rape, twice, on September 19, purportedly in a bid to teach her a lesson. The FIR also named two women, who are related to three of the accused men, for abetting the crime.

The police has arrested one of the accused, Satish More (29), while the five others are absconding. More denied all the allegations made by the complainant.  “As part of its probe, the police are verifying the truth in the complainant’s allegations against the accused persons, as mentioned in the FIR, to establish the facts and to rule out any foul play,” police inspector Chandrakant Khuspe of Vithalwadi police station told The Asian Age. The police on Wednesday sent the survivor for a medical examination.     

The survivor, who is a domestic help, alleged that her female employer had asked three of the accused men to teach her a lesson. This was after the complainant had informed her female employer that she saw one of her close female relatives and a houseguest in an inappropriate position during a family function on September 19, which infuriated the employer, according to police sources.  A police officer told The Asian Age, “According to the complainant, the female employer became incensed and accused her of defaming the female relative and then asked her son, the son-in-law and the houseguest to teach her a lesson.”

The survivor said that she was allegedly shut in a room where the three accused men took turns to rape her, said the source. The source added, “Later, the female employer’s second son volunteered to drop the complainant to her residence, where, however, he raped her. He did that on finding that the complainant’s house was empty as her family was away. Later, two of the other accused too came there and raped her.”  

According to the survivor’s complaint, she and her family delayed registering a complaint with the police since the accused persons had threatened her of dire consequences if she did that. The survivor allegedly told her brother about the incident, but he too advised her to keep mum. The victim then quit her job at the employer’s house, but the arrested accused allegedly still visited her a few times. “The arrested accused often visited her and raped her each time after threatening her. She decided to record the incident on her phone during such a visit and this footage is being examined,” said Mr Khuspe. “More was arrested on the basis of the footage”, he added.

He also said: “We visited the house of the accused, but found it locked. We are also looking for the guest who has been named in the FIR, but they are all absconding at present.”